


Mission Failure

by I_Teach_Maths



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Child Soldiers, Mentions of non-con, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 16:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10700730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Teach_Maths/pseuds/I_Teach_Maths
Summary: Has the Winter Soldier ever failed at a mission?What does this have to do with the relationship between Natasha and Bucky?





	Mission Failure

When Natasha was just a little girl, her parents were killed and with no other living family, she was made a ward of the state. The person in charge of her file placed her with three terrible families, all of which she tried to get away from before she was sent to a facility where they "dealt with unruly children, and sorted out their psychological issues".

From the outside it looked like a nice place, it was looked after well, it was large, and the grounds were huge. The woman that met them in the foyer looked stern but kind.

The man and woman showed her around a bit, and asked if she'd like to stay there. There was a large dining room, with long tables that had bench seats down either side. There was a ballroom, where she was told all sorts of lessons were given to the boys and girls staying there. There was a room with computers, and a room with lots of couches and tons of books. Lastly she was shown to one of the bedrooms. It was quite large, but not overly so. There was space for about six of the opulent double beds that were in the room to the left of the door, and off to the other side was a makeup table and a large dresser. Everything was made up of a beautiful light wood.

The room was larger and more beautiful than any other she had ever been in in her short four years on earth. Her eyes wide as she looked around the room, stunned at its beauty, she nodded. "Speak up." The woman said.

"Yes, please." Natasha said.

"Good, at least you're polite. Now, why don't you put your things away and then someone will be up to fetch you for dinner in just a couple of minutes." The woman said, and she and Mr Coots left the room.

Natasha pulled her backpack over to the dresser and opened up both of them. She placed her few clothes on the bottom shelves where she would easily be able to get all of it, not even using the third shelf, knowing that it would bother her to stretch for her clothes every day.

She put her second pair of shoes neatly next to her door and the empty backpack under the bed at one of its feet. She sat down on the edge of the bed to wait for the person that was coming to fetch her for dinner, blearily blinking her eyes.

When another girl came to fetch Natasha ten minutes later she was yawning bit as she sat on the bed. "Hi, Natasha, my name is Galina. I'll be your mentor while we're both here." The girl said.

"Hi." Natasha said as she got up off of the bed.

"Follow me, it's time for dinner, then you can come back up to your room to sleep. In the next few days you'll be tested to see what you'll be best at and where you'll fit in the best." Galina said.

Natasha followed behind her quietly, doing her best to remember the way so that she knew where she was going. Once they made it to the dining room, Galina lead Natasha to the serving point, helped her dish up some food and then to her seat, where she had to wait until everybody was seated before she was allowed to start eating.

Dinner was rather a quiet affair, with the few people that did talk doing so quietly. Even so, Natasha could hear that the boys and girls around her were speaking more than just the Russian that everybody had used to talk to her so far. She could recognize at least English, German and French from where she sat.

She kept quiet and listened to the kids speaking those languages while she ate. It had always intrigued her when people could speaker more than one language. When her plate was empty, Galina motioned for her to wait at her place, so she diverted all of her attention to the conversations going on around her. After another ten minutes or so, it seemed to Natasha as tough all the girls stood as one, and she scrambled a bit to get up with them.

As one the girls spoke together "For what we have we give thanks, for what we know we give thanks. We will strive to improve more each day."

"Have a good rest boys and girls." The lady from before said.

"Have a good rest Madam Alexi." They chorused.

It was eerie for Natasha, but she didn't mention it. Madam Alexi left the room, and then all the boys and girls followed suit. Galina waited until everyone had left the dining room before she took hold of Natasha's arm and led her slowly out the door. She knew that Natasha was almost asleep on her feet and that she wouldn't be able to send her off to bed on her own. Once they'd reached Natasha's room, Galina sent her inside saying, "You make sure to get a good night's sleep, tomorrow is the start of a long week for you."

"Good night." Natasha mumbled in response.

 

The next day Natasha knew that Galina hadn't just been trying to scare her, when she was asked questions for well over two hours that morning, and tested in different sports that afternoon. They made her run around a track until she couldn't anymore, let her rest for just ten minutes, then tested her on sports that used balls.

She ate her dinner with much more enthusiasm than the night before. And was so glad when she could go to bed that evening, that the absolute synchronicity with which the boys and girls answered Madam Alexi didn't seem so eerie to her that night. Her days continued to be the same for the entire first week she was there. They would ask her all sorts of questions in the morning, make her run around the track until she couldn't any more, then tested her in more sports. The sports ranged from swimming, to athletics, to ball sports, to dancing and gymnastics.

At the end of the week the woman that had been taking her around each day, took her to Madam Alexi's office and gave her report to the Madam. She handed over a folder where Natasha had seen her put many papers that she'd written on during the week, and said "In every test that we have given her, Natasha has done very well. She has not failed in any of the tasks given to her, and I believe that she will do well in any field we want to train her. She will excel most in those sports where grace is of the essence, such as ballet, gymnastics and figure skating. She has amazing stamina, running twice as far as most children her age we have taken in so far, simply by not giving up when she is slightly winded. If we train her up a bit more, she will be a great asset to the red room even before she is twelve."

"Very good, very good. I am happy to hear that. She is also quite pretty, if we are careful with her looks while we train her, she can join the widow program when she is older." Madam Alexi said. "Thank you for your report, Katya. I will read through it tonight and create a detailed training program for her by the end of the week. Her first week should be spent increasing her stamina and discipline; she can join the six year olds for their morning run, then I want her to receive the basic training for both gymnastics and for ballet. While she is practicing those I want her to be taught to speak English and French. I've seen the way she concentrates on those speaking other languages around her. Simultaneous training will be best for her, the body and the mind at once."

"Yes, Madam Alexi." Katya said.

Madam Alexi turned to Natasha and said "I want you to do your best at all times. I do not keep those that are not useful to me, and those that I don't keep do not last long. Should I feel that you are not giving me your best, I will beat you and then put you through your paces again. Do you understand me?" Madam Alexi asked.

"Yes Madam Alexi." Natasha said.

"Good, now get out." She said, making a shooing motion to get her out of her office. Natasha left the office as quickly as she could, and followed the other boys and girls to the dining room. She dished up her food and took it to her place, and waited with everyone else for Madam Alexi to start eating. When dinner was over and the nightly greeting was given, Natasha was a little surprised that she returned the greeting with the other boys and girls.

That night while she was sleeping she was dragged from her bed by her hair, down flights of stairs and into a dormitory. She was thrown on an empty cot and told "This is where you sleep now."

From there on her life became a whirlwind of training and learning. In the mornings it was gymnastics and English, and in the afternoons it was ballet and French. Two weeks later they added martial arts. When she was six they added weapons training and regular and advanced schoolwork to her days. When she was eight they started teaching her how to use a computer, from how to put one together and take it apart, to how to use one to clean out someone's bank accounts.

She remembered the warning Madam Alexi had given her every day while she trained, and she believed it when she twisted her ankle one day during her morning run, and couldn't go on pointe during ballet training that morning. Madam Alexi happened to be watching the ballet class that morning and immediately called a halt to it when she realized that Natasha was not on pointe. She smacked her around a couple of times before asking why she was being disobedient. When Natasha said that she'd sprained her ankle, Madam Alexi smacked her a few more times before she sneered at her "Be careful little witch, before I break your toes and make you dance on pointe then."

"Yes Madam Alexi." Natasha said. She made sure to keep the grimace of pain off of her face as she forced herself to dance on pointe even with her sprained ankle.

She excelled at everything they taught her, and when they taught her to kill at age nine, she did so without batting an eye. When she turned ten, she was called to the sitting room when she would have been practicing hand to hand combat skills.

“This is The Asset, you can call him Soldat. He is to teach you advanced combat skills.” The man had a metal arm, chin length hair, and didn’t look away from the wall opposite him until he was addressed. “This is Natalia, you are to train her until she has nothing left to learn of combat.”

The Asset glanced down at her for a few seconds, snapped to attention and replied “Understood.” then returned to parade rest.

“You will use training room 17. Every afternoon from lunch to dinner.”

“Understood.” replied The Asset, then he looked to her and said “Show me there.”

Natasha showed him to training room 17, where he evaluated what skills they had taught her so far, and how well she could use them. He started her training by making her repeat five moves per day, for most of the afternoon. Then for the last hour before dinner they sparred in order for her to try and defeat him. He barely pulled any of his punches, forcing her to move faster and block better.

When she was twelve the both of them were called to the sitting room again. “Your mission parameters have been adjusted, Soldat. You are to teach Natalia all there is to know about human sexuality.”

“Understood.” came the same reply as always when he was addressed by a superior.

For the first week, he taught her about the reasons for sex, the ways of having sex, and where the erogenous zones were located on men and women respectively. When the theory part of teaching her about sex was completed and they were to move on to the practical part, they ran into a problem.

“Soldat, report!” the handler barked when the situation was broached.

“The practical aspect of the training can not be completed, sir.” he said.

“Reason?”

“Failure to achieve minimum mission parameters on my part, sir.”

“Are the necessary parts not functioning?”

“Not in the situation in which it is required to function. Removed from the situation all parts are fully functional, sir.”

His handler stared at him for a few minutes, then snapped out “Continue with combat training. Dismissed.”

There was a minuscule part, buried away very deeply in his mind that was relieved that they would not find another way of having him complete the mission. That same part was dismayed the next day when he was to stand in the corner of the training room and observe while another completed the physical part of his mission. He kept eye contact with Natalia for every second. The same man came back for two weeks to make sure that Natalia had practiced everything The Asset had taught her about at least once. Other things she was made to practice until she was an expert.

The Asset continued her training in everything else, and continued to support her when the other man came in at the end of the day to teach her what he could not.

~~~~~~~

The Avengers were lounging around the common area, with a few of their other halves or best friends lounging with them. They were talking about various things, about past experiences when Clint asked Bucky “Did you ever fail a mission as the Winter Soldier?”

Bucky was startled, but after a moment’s consideration he answered “Only ever one.”

“Yeah? What was it?”

“Many years ago, I trained Natalia in the Red Room started off with hand-to-hand combat and went from there until she knew everything I knew about fighting and killing people. They decided that I would be the one to teach her about the sexual nature of the human being. I managed to teach her about it intellectually, but they had to bring in someone else for the physical part because I couldn’t do it. Failed to meet minimum mission requirements.” he almost quoted his report to his handler so many years ago.

“Oh, wow! Natasha got her sex ed from the Winter Soldier. How weird was that? Can you just imagine!” Clint burst out giggling.

“It was what I received. I have no other experience to compare it to.” she said.

It was Tony, of course, that commented “Failed to meet minimum mission requirements. So you couldn’t get it up? Natasha gets the gayest of gay men’s motors running, but yours didn’t start?”

“No, I couldn’t you interpreted correctly.” Bucky said with an eye roll.

Tony always had to make a joke out of everything, and went on “So, serum enhanced, brainwashed and then programmed for the mission, you couldn’t get a woody?”

“Nope.” Bucky didn’t care what anyone thought about him not having been able to finish that mission.

“Did you have that same problem before you were captured?” Tony continued with his snickering.

“Never before, and never after that time did I have that problem.” he said casually.

“So, she was the wrong gender they wanted you to train? What if it was Steve? Would you have been able to meet minimum mission requirements then?”

“Maybe, I’ve never considered being with a man before.” Bucky answered.

“Man! If I failed to get it up for the Black Widow, I would be too scared to admit it. You sound proud to admit it, and she’s sitting like ten feet from you! Should we start planning your funeral?” Stark went on.

Bucky glanced at Natasha. She was playing with a knife. He recognized it as the same technique he’d taught her during the time his only failed mission was being completed by another man. He looked back at Stark and said “Yes. I am proud to say that she just didn’t do it for me. But then again, most men would be proud to say a twelve year old didn’t do it for them.”

Tony choked on his own spit.

Everything was quiet for a minute while the occupants of the room stared at Natasha, glancing at Bucky every now and then. Then Clint broke the silence “You were twelve?” it sounded like someone was busy strangling him. He repeated the word with disgust “Twelve!?”

“I’ve dealt with it, Clint. Don’t worry about it. It was a very long time ago.” she said quietly.

“But Bucky said they brought in someone else to finish the mission. What sick fuck did they get to do that to you?” he got out.

“He’s no longer alive, Clint. I dealt with him a long time ago.” Bucky said.

“How? How did you know who he was? When did you do this?” Clint asked.

“In a not very pleasant way, that’s how I killed him. I knew who he was because I was in the room every time he was there. I killed him fifty-three years ago.”

“You were in the room?”

“I had no choice, they told me to keep watch. It affected me quite a lot, it stayed with me subconsciously through all the wipes after. Just like Steve stayed with me.”

“How did you manage to kill him? If you were always either on a mission or in cryo?”

“I was on a mission that wasn’t time sensitive, of which it was more important to get it done quietly. I saw him in passing while I was on the way somewhere, I can’t even remember where I was headed. I grabbed him the next day and tortured him to death. It took him a week to die.”

“Good.” Clint said decisively. He got agreeing nods from quite a few of the others.

“I never thanked you for what you did while he was there.” Natasha said.

“I didn’t do anything.” he said ashamed.

“But you did. You could have watched the window or the door, but you kept eye contact with me. It gave me something else to focus on rather than what he was doing to me. It made me feel like a person, which was so very rare those days. I wish I had been older and that it could have been you rather than him. With you at least there was a modicum of trust and we understood one another. But even then, I knew that you weren’t interested in me because of my age. It let me know that I wasn’t just a machine or something. You still saw me as a person, even though they didn’t allow you to do much thinking. I know you weren’t thinking of yourself as a person at that time. I want you to know how grateful I was for that. And that I, at least, thought of you as a person.”

No one has ever seen or heard Natasha speak so freely or so honestly about herself, and they sat there for a moment, most of them crying silently for their team mate. But then Clint got up, and then pulled Natasha up from her seat and pulled her into a crushing hug. After a moment he reached out and gestured for Bucky to join them. Bucky did so a little reluctantly, but soon the rest of the Avengers and friends all joined them. Both Bucky and Natasha broke down in the arms of all of their friends, feeling better by the end of it.

“I’m sorry for being a dick about it. I didn’t know. I assumed she was about twenty.” Tony said.

“It’s fine Tony, but thank you for apologizing.”

 

All of them had big and strange issues, and by supporting each other they were all working on and overcoming these issues.


End file.
